In the autumn of 1895, in a cottage at the middle of a Russian farm, the 35 years-old dramatist Anton Chekhov wrote in his letter: “I’m going to write something strange. I am writing it not without pleasure, though I swear fearfully at the conventions of the stage. It’s a comedy, there are three women’s parts, six men’s, four acts, a landscapes (view over a lake); many conversations about literature, hardly any action, tons of love.” The “strange thing” turned out to be The Seagull, a play now-considered to be one of the greatest in history, in which Chekhov declared with Konstantine’s speech: “We need new forms.”

Now, this autumn, at CalArts, we’re going to do something strange: we’re going to build a world that’s part-theater, part-gallery, part-fashion show, and throw all the Chekhovian characters inside. They’ll walk inside art-light installation, they’ll wear couture with fashion styles, and be immersed in a spatialized ambisonic soundscape. And seriously, it’s going to be funny.

Directed by Fu Jui “Freddy” Tang
Cinematography by Sean Renner
Lighting Design and Production by Josephine Wang
Editing by Ian Stahl and William Gagain
Special Effects by William Gagain
Coaching by Preston Butler III
Scenic Design by Carlo Maghirang

Lyrics by Ian Stahl:
Another butterfly in the bell jar
A painting in motion, destination-unaware
The prized specimen in the collection
So beautiful but slowly you are running out of air

Faded photographs of faces
Made on dreams I used to know
Are we now who we were then?
Can we truly begin again?

If I could paint new wings
Would they take me any higher?
Will these Icarus dreams
Melt me down or forge me in fire?
We were born in time to see the sun rise
Now we live our lives in jealousy of everything that flies

Faded photographs of faces
Made on dreams I used to know
Are we now who we were then?
Can we truly begin again?